Team One: Dobro and Domingo
"So what do you think?"
Domingo turned back toward his partner to give him a rather cynical look. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Why not?" Dobro's voice sounded a little annoyed, but Domingo was set on this.
"We're here for a reason," he told the Pangoro. "We have to back up TeaM PerSisTenCe. Even if we may not be on the front line anymore, we have to be there to be ready for anything."
Doro moved a branch out of his way. "But what if they need our help in the town or the Academy? What do we do then?"
Domingo's answer was a hundred percent certain. "We go help them."
"Yeah and what happens when the humans see us? Right now, we're the bad guys to them. They'll try to destroy us on the spot. But even worse, they'll see that TeaM PerSisTenCe is with us as well and think they're bad ones too. We take everyone down this way. Mission over."
There was a little bit of truth in those words, Domingo knew. But still..."And leaving the island is an appropriate response?"
Dobro shrugged, "We're less of a liability to them. We're out of the way. And what can we honestly do for them at this point? They're more qualified than us for the task, what with Crimson and his skills."
Domingo suddenly stopped walking, making a full one eighty degree turn to stare at Dobro with determined eyes. "I'm not leaving. I don't care what kind of predicament we might get them in by staying. I don't care what kind of skills Crimson may have. I don't even care if we end up sitting around the entire time doing nothing. They
might need us. Who's gonna save them when they need someone to help? At the moment, Team RedEye isn't exactly the most reliable source until they prove themselves as not the ones doing this. That leaves us as the fallback plan. And Crimson isn't perfect. I've seen him beaten many times, way more than you have. Sure, he's smart and agile and has...well, persistence that can't be ignored. But he
can be beaten. Neeko proved that one to me. So just in case, you and I have to be here to be ready for the unexpected. Because it does come, Dobro. It does."
Domingo whipped back around and continued to search the forest. The two were silent for a few minutes, gazing around for the somewhat infamous Team RedEye. They hadn't covered much of the forest, but they hadn't been looking for very long. The trees weren't that thick, but they were somewhat low hanging, enough so for it to be a constant problem for Dobro as he was constantly ducking out of the way and moving aside branches. Domingo would help clear the path for him by using his horn to slice through a couple of the branches in front, paving a way.
During one such instance, it would be Dobro that would break the silence, "Kind of a good thing you have that horn on your head."
Domingo made a noise, "You have horns all over your body. You're practically made of spikes."
Dobro raised a brow at this, "Oh really now? You think these spikes protect me from stuff? That's just my fur. I don't-"
"Shh!" Domingo cut in suddenly, dropping low to the ground. "I hear voices."
"Pokemon or human?"
"Can't tell. I don't see anyone. Sounded like a girl with a very...obedient tonality..." Much like how he was when he was moving through the Isle Defender ranks. "Wait...now I hear a male. Has that mentoring kind of quality in his voice. They're talking about...berries?"
"Has to be Pokemon," Dobro decisively said.
"Humans know about berries too, y'know," Domingo reminded him. "Let's go check it out."
"Pert, would you stop looking down into the river?!"
"I can't help it!" Pert admitted, "It's so cool the way it just...cuts through the mountains like this. These mountains are cool!"
Meryl sighed in annoyance and motioned for his ADD brother to catch up. In all honesty, she completely agreed with him. These mountains were gorgeous, especially against the backdrop of a cloudless sky like it was this morning. If given the option, she would lounge around these mountains the entire day, just simply looking up.
But she had a job to do. She had to find Team RedEye. And she would make sure Pert understood their objective as well.
Speaking of...Meryl turned back to find Pert picking up rocks that seemed out of place, particularly the obsidian. "Pert!"
"What? I'm just looking!" Pert set the rock down and had to bound his way to where Meryl was.
"Yeah, we both are. For Team RedEye. Remember?" Meryl continued to talk while she looked around. "We won't make much progress if you keep stopping at every nook and cranny looking at things we can always come back to after we find them."
Pert sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry."
Meryl actually felt a little guilty. It felt like she was deflating his balloon of optimism with every word out of her mouth. She always wondered if she was pushing Pert away with everything she said. The least she could do is let his eyes wander towards the cool stuff just a little bit.
So she gave a nod, "That's okay. And it's alright to look around at things and point them out. Just don't stop every time you do."
Pert's eyes lit up a bit more and nodded.
They walked around the mountains a bit more. Pert would point out a cool structure or landmark every so often and the two would enjoy the moment together. Meryl even made an attempt once, pointing out a five foot deep indent in one of the mountains. It wasn't terribly interesting, but it was a start.
After a while, they realized they'd made a full circle. They had explored the mountains without any sign of Team RedEye. Meryl was slightly deflated by this, but Pert seemed chipper as ever, clapping his hands together.
"Alright, so the swamp next?"
Team Three: Crimson, Tag, and Sarik
"It was right here."
Crimson, Sarik, and Tag were just outside of the Academy. They weren't close enough to be spotted unless someone came exploring the area, but they weren't exactly out of sight of the building either. A far distance away, they could see students bustling about, training of the practice fields, studying for tests, or just hanging out with friends. Meanwhile, the three were studying their own thing: trying to figure out what Crimson saw last night.
Crimson didn't have the chance to tell them what he saw when he returned. By the time he'd gotten back, everyone was asleep.
So much for worrying about me... he'd thought. But he was actually happier they were resting than anxiously waiting for him to get back. Crimson soon joined them. After they split up into their groups the following morning, Crimson had told Sarik and Tag what he saw last night as they walked, from the ending of the fight to the moving figure among the shadows. Afterward, he proceeded to show them the spot and see if they could find any clues before starting their search for Team RedEye.
"I was standing to the left of this tree," he pointed towards the lone tree on the hillside and started walking up to it as if to simulate what he did last night. Tag and Sarik patiently watched. "And I saw something move...somewhere around there." he pointed towards an area of grass not terribly far from a trail.
"You sure it wasn't the wind?" Tag asked him. Crimson gave him a knowing stare, as if he knew he was going to say that before continuing.
"I saw what I saw. The wind doesn't move like how I saw that shadow move." Crimson started surveying the area he'd just pointed out. "I'd say let's look for footprints or something."
"It was dry last night," Sarik pointed out. "You're not gonna find footprints in the grass."
"Maybe they left something," Crimson kept his hopes up as he looked. The three searched for a few minutes before coming up with empty air.
"Well there's nothing to go off of," Sarik concluded. "Whoever was sneaking around was very good at it."
"Sounds like Gova's work," Tag reasoned.
Crimson thought about it for a moment. That would be something Gova would do. It was something she was excellent at doing. Observing in secret. Sneaking around and finding out stuff. "Maybe...but let's find them first before we make that conclusion."
The other two nodded and started walking beside the trail in the tall grass. This way, if someone were to come by, they could duck down and hide. But it actually would lead them to the clue they were looking for...
"Ow!" Sarik cried out and started hopping up and down.
"You okay?" Tag turned around, a concerned look on his face. Crimson also looked in his direction.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sarik called out irritably. "I just stepped on..." He lost his voice when he looked down, his expression of anger turning into one of curiosity, then realization. "Uh, guys. You may wanna come look at this."
Crimson and Tag both ran towards the Squirtle, Tag arriving first. "What's up? What did you find?"
"Look for yourselves," Sarik pointed down at the ground. The two looked down...and gasped at the same time.
"A Distance Communicator?" Crimson murmured, staring at the broken piece of Tech. It wasn't in too many pieces, making it recognizable.
"Yeah," Sarik nodded. "I can't believe it either."
"They must've dropped it," Tag added. "It seemed like they were in a big hurry to get out of here. But why?"
Crimson reached down and picked up the major part of the broken Tech, flipping it over to find the one thing he wished he wouldn't have...the all too familiar Magnet Symbol engraved on the back. The same symbol could be found at the base of Crimson's Power Bat, the sole of Tag's Power Boots, and the underbelly of Sarik's Power Scope.
"Crimson..." Sarik said sadly as he looked over his shoulder. "You know what this means..."
Crimson had to take a deep breath before nodding. Not that he didn't have his suspicions before, but this just about confirmed it. This was Dr. Eckels Tech...and there were only two other Pokemon besides the members of TeaM PerSisTenCe and Team Justice who had access to this Tech.
Pounce and Gova...the two members of Team RedEye.